Originally Posted by John Voorpostel
Marty, I trust you are happy with the consequences of your looksee.at errr fair trade.

But if you believe that Liberation Day means fair trade, you are simply delusional in your thinking

It was the opening salvo of a trade war based on lies and lauched with full disrespect against the world.
It was using a big blunt instrument to whack everything...indiscriminately

That formula is a joke ...an unfunny one....and simply is a stick created to beat the dog they chose to beat.
Has no economic basis except to say...yup, there is a trade imbalance. No attempt to disect it or look beyond raw numbers.

What do you see happening as people, already stretched financially, must dig deeper into empty pockets?
I know you were smart enough and had the means to deal with things, so like Howard Ludnick's grandma, if you miss a social security cheque, no problem.
But think of other Americans...

John,

It seems that your ( ) has bubbled up this morning. Try to relax.
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion was a policy that had many blatantly discriminatory practices in it. But politics 101 is "give the dog a good name."
"Liberation Day" to me is just political noise and gaming.

BUTT, there are real issues involved.

As for the formula, here is a HUFF POST for your enjoyment.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trum...3d85c1/liveblog_67f05313e4b0f761e073f43b

The formula is not a concern of mine. The negotiations will now "disect" the numbers.
You and I may or may not see any truthful accounts of what went on.

Originally Posted by John Voorpostel
What do you see happening as people, already stretched financially, must dig deeper into empty pockets?
I know you were smart enough and had the means to deal with things, so like Howard Ludnick's grandma, if you miss a social security cheque, no problem.
But think of other Americans...

A very legitimate concern. Not just for someone with empathy, but one for Donald Trump and his outlook.

I am an architect and have spent most of my life as a small time designer/builder.
I was installing millwork in EF HUTTON'S downtown Dallas office on Black Monday when the stock market fell 22.6% in one day.
I had a good relationship with HUTTON's facilities people. Looked forward to years to come. HUTTON went insolvent on BLACK MONDAY and got eaten up by SHEARSON. SHEARSON"S facility people told me that I was not big enough to deal with. All gone in a day.

When economies contract, architecture and construction take immediate hits. Contracts are cancelled and layoffs occur.
My life has been impacted greatly several times. For Docs and medical personel such events are usually TV stories.
Life can be rough depending on how you are positioned.

In this case, the blame is not the inanimate movement of markets, but Donald Trump and his show stopping tariffs.
That makes him an evil manipulator who does horrible things with no basis...to Canadians and Europeans for sure.

But I have watched the US mfg be gutted by cheap labor markets around the world for decades.
That has been horrible for the US. Ross Perot was correct.
A case can be made if you are an American that the tariff systems are a leftover from WW2 when Europe was bombed out, and have not been fair for a long time.
A case can be made that they will never be reasonably scrutinized by any politicians, other than Trump.
A case can be made that you will never get anywhere towards a fix, if you stop to chat and ask everyone's opinion along the way,
A case can be made that the only way to make a change is to take an axe to it.
Trump did.

THERE ARE DANGERS TO THAT. THERE ARE UNCERTAINTIES.

I agree with Musk that a collapse of the US economy is inevitable if things just rock along.
And no...conversations and dialogues are never going to accomplish anything. There is decades of proof to support that.

My personal answer to your question, is a question.

How does one deal with the perception and speculations of bad future outcomes?

I DON'T TRUTHFULLY KNOW. I am just glad its not me having to make the decisions.

My personal suggestion...
Tell everyone you know to approach this with a truly open mind, in pursuit of fair and realistic outcomes, calm and friendly.
Hopefully it will work-out fairly soon.

https://soundcloud.com/sunset-poet-of-texas